Symposium will showcase medieval documents at Brock

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Symposium will showcase medieval documents at Brock

On Friday March 19, Brock University will host a symposium showcasing recently rediscovered and newly gifted medieval documents from the James A. Gibson Library’s Special Collections and Archives.

The event takes place in the Dr. Charles A. Sankey Chamber at Brock from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend and admission is free.

“This is a rare opportunity to view these documents first-hand since they are not normally on display or put out for viewing,” says David Sharron, Head of Special Collections and Archives. “We will also have a panel of medieval studies experts from various backgrounds who will explain the historical contexts of the artifacts on display.”

Since March 2009, three documents dating to the middle ages have been rediscovered in Brock’s Special Collections and Archives. And two more documents from the 15th and 16th centuries have recently been donated to the University.

The rediscovered items include a 15th-century piece of sheet music, a 14th-century psalm from a church reader and the 13th-century Clopton Charter that was found in a drawer last year.

One of the newly donated items is a letter of King James VI of Scotland from 1579 that bears not only remains of the privy seal of Scotland but also the king’s signature. James VI later became King James I of England after the passing of Queen Elizabeth I.

The panel includes Dr. David Caldwell, Keeper of Scotland and Europe, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh and donor of the two newest documents; Professor Michael Gervers, University of Toronto; and from Brock, André Basson, Campus Ministries, Brian Power, chair of the Department of Music, Andrew McDonald, History and Medieval and Renaissance Studies (MARS), Angus Somerville, associate professor of English Language and Literature and Mathew Martin, associate professor of English Language and Literature and director of MARS.

Niagara Falls-native Jonathan Milner, who graduated with an honours BA in History from Brock last June, will also give a poster presentation detailing the follow-up investigation and research he was hired to do on the 13th-century Clopton Charter.

The symposium is sponsored by the Humanities Research Institute, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Department of History and James A. Gibson Library.